The Travel Partner Group

14/12/2021

Find out how Giulietta made £10,000 profit on a single booking.

https://blog.travelpartnergroup.com/i-earned-10000-on-a-single-booking-today/

01/12/2021

25/11/2021

I EARNED £10,000 ON A SINGLE BOOKING TODAY!

This may sound unbelievable, but it happens more frequently that you might expect. Today I made a booking to Dubai for a family of 6 over Christmas and earned £9,638 in commission. That’s right! Just shy of £10,000 on a single booking! I had heard stories like this from people I have met in trav...

25/11/2021

https://blog.travelpartnergroup.com/other-homeworking-groups-and-why-i-chose-travel-partner-group/

Travel partner group is not the first business to provide infrastructure for travel agents to set up and run their own business. In fact the pioneer of this business model is a company called Travel Counsellors. Yes- we are happy to tell you about the competition because what we offer is very differ...

25/11/2021

https://blog.travelpartnergroup.com/why-specialising-can-earn-you-over-150000-a-year-understanding-the-different-categories-of-travel/

The travel industry is vast and often the word travel agent is used to describe a number of different categories within the sector. There are four main categories that have the time travel agent applied to them and they are as follows: Travel agentTour operatorBusiness Travel Management This blog ar...

24/11/2021

https://blog.travelpartnergroup.com/my-journey-into-travel/

For the last eight years since leaving school I have been working in retail fashion. I even before the pandemic I could see that the industry was in long-term decline primarily because of the growing number of online clothes retailers that will be coming ever more popular with consumers. COVID-19 ac...

14/07/2021

Don't pay anything for your 2022 travel now but secure todays low rate prices

Hotels operate a vast range of rates for the rooms in their hotels. They will have the standard rates, rates for the loyalty club members, corporate rates, leisure rates, advanced purchase rates and much more. Hotels even go as far as operating different rate for different nationalities. We have exp...

29/10/2020

Air in the aircraft cabin is much cleaner than many travelers are aware. Here are 3 key reasons why:

16/10/2020

Coronavirus: Revealed - the risk of exposure to COVID-19 on a passenger plane

The head of the IATA says the risk of contracting COVID-19 on board is in the "same category as being struck by lightning".

The risk of exposure to the coronavirus on flights is very low, according to a US Department of Defence study.

This will be seen as a positive sign for the airline industry as it tries to rebound from the pandemic's crushing effect on travel.

When a seated passenger is wearing a mask, an average 0.003% of air particles within the breathing zone around a person's head are infectious - even when every seat is occupied, the study suggests.

The testing assumed there was only one infected person on the plane and it did not simulate the effects of passenger movement around the cabin.

Experts conducted the study on a United Airlines Boeing 777 and 767 aircraft and claim it showed that masks helped minimise exposure to infection when someone coughed, even in neighbouring seats.
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It found about 99.99% of particles were filtered out of the cabin within six minutes due to fast air circulation, downward air ventilation and the filtration systems on the aircraft.

And it estimated that a passenger would need to fly 54 hours on a plane with someone who has coronavirus to receive an infectious dose.

"These results ... mean your chances of COVID exposure on a United aircraft are nearly non-existent, even if your flight is full," said United Airlines chief customer officer Toby Enqvist.

The study was led and funded by Transportation Command, which operates Patriot Express flights that use commercial planes like United's for members of the military and their families.

It took place over six months and involved 300 tests during 38 hours of flight time and 45 hours of ground testing.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it had identified only 44 flight-related COVID-19 cases since the beginning of 2020, versus some 1.2 billion passengers who have travelled during that time.

IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac said "nothing is completely risk-free" but the published cases of potential inflight COVID-19 transmission show that "the risk of contracting the virus on board appears to be in the same category as being struck by lightning".

The pandemic has hit the aviation industry hard - and in the US, the number of trips taken by air is still down 65% on where it was a year ago.

13/10/2020

What To Expect When Flying With British Airways

Travellers may notice some differences to their travel experience due to the new protective measures British Airways have implemented. But, when they're ready to venture on their next European getaway, they can be sure to feel safe and to relax during their flight.
Below are some of the key details your customers should be aware of when they fly
Euro Traveller or Club Europe.

Face masks must be worn at all times but can be removed for a reasonable time for food and drink.
Key surfaces are disinfected after each flight, with a full clean everyday.
All British Airways aircraft are fitted with HEPA filters, refreshing the cabin air every 2-3 minutes.
Complimentary pre-prepared meal boxes will be offered to customers.
Safe distance markers and sanitising stations have been introduced in the lounges for Club Europe travellers.
Contactless lounge entry screens are now available to scan boarding passes.

07/10/2020

Govt aiming to cut 14-day quarantine requirement with testing.

The government has announced plans to work with industry on ways to safely reduce the UK’s 14-day quarantine on arrival requirement through testing.

A new Global Travel Taskforce, spanning the Department for Transport (DfT and Department of Health (DoH), has been tasked with "working with industry on how to safely reduce self-isolation period with testing".

The taskforce will also consider other measures to support the travel sector, including development of a global framework to make travelling easier.

In a joint statement, the DfT and DoH said both departments had been "working extensively with clinicians, health experts and the private testing sector" on the practicalities of testing international arrivals.

"The next step is to develop an operationalised approach," they said on Wednesday (7 October), pledging "to work at pace with industry on implementation" and "to identify options to reduce the self-isolation period while protecting public health".

The taskforce will also aim to speed up work on proposals for a future testing regime, and how this could be implemented – potentially through a single test "taken after a period of self-isolation".

Tests would have to be taken privately, with passengers footing the bill. "The taskforce will work with medical experts to better understand when a test should be taken based on the progression of the disease," said the departments.

Together, they also pledged to work with the private testing sector to ensure testing capacity for international arrivals does not impact NHS capacity.

The taskforce will also explore alternative testing models, including pilots with partner countries to establish whether self-isolation "could be undertaken pre-departure."

The taskforce will be jointly chaired by transport secretary Grant Shapps and health secretary Matt Hancock.

It will also consider other options to boost safe and sustainable tourism and business travel, "supporting the sector in its recovery from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic".

Shapps said the UK’s current quarantine measures "had saved lives", adding better understanding of Covid meant the government could "intensify efforts to develop options for a testing regime" and "help reinvigorate" the country’s "world-leading travel sector".

“This new taskforce will not only help us move towards safer, smoother international travel as we continue to battle this virus but will also support global connectivity – helping facilitate more Covid-secure travel while protecting the population from imported cases.”

Hancock added: “We know how these measures have a significant impact on people’s lives and on the travel and tourism industries, so we are working hard across government to explore ways to open up international travel in a safe way.”
Consultation

Shapps and Hancock said the taskforce would "consult closely with partners from the aviation, travel, healthcare and testing sectors", as well as the UK’s devolved administrations, "to implement measures to support the recovery of the travel sector".

The taskforce is expected to put forward its initial recommendations next month, and will consider:

How a testing regime for international arrivals could be implemented to boost safe travel to and from the UK;

What steps can be taken to facilitate business and tourist travel through innovative testing models and other non-testing means;

What steps can be taken to increase consumer confidence to support the recovery of international travel.

The current 14-day quarantine on arrival policy from non-travel corridor destinations continues to apply, both Shapps and Hancock stressed.

05/10/2020

What are my rights if the FCO change their travel advice?

There are an array of conflicting views on what rights the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangement Regulations 2018 confer upon members of the travelling public. The historical view has always been that if the FCO advise against travel to a destination then the consumer is entitled to cancel their holiday to that destination and obtain a full refund within 14 days and without any penalties. This is the position that ABTA has taken for Covid 19 and it has asked all members to undertake that they will operate on this basis.

Last week, Love Holidays and On The Beach both resigned their membership of ABTA because they believe ABTA is wrong. They both argued that whilst it has been convention to offer full refunds when the FCO advises against travel to a destination, that is not actually what is prescribed under the regulations. They have both said that if the airline operates the flight the customer is booked to travel on and the hotel the customer is due to stay at is open and operational, they will not offer refunds unless they are able to obtain refunds from their suppliers.

So what does the law actually say? We have summarised the arguments from both sides.

The customer is entitled to a full refund!

ABTA’s position is that the travel industry has always recognised that there is an expectation or a requirement to refund package customers where the national authority advises against travel to a destination. They say that advice issued by the FCO against travel is evidence of the existence of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances at the destination referred to in the advice. Under part 3, regulation 12, the regulations state that “the traveller may terminate the package travel contract before the start of the package without paying any termination fee” but only “in the event of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occurring at the place of destination or its immediate vicinity and which significantly affect the performance of the package”.

ABTA says that Package Holiday contracts are a special form of contract where the consumer specifically books because of the “peace of mind” it offers. ABTA therefore says that even if all the travel services can be delivered, a package holiday contract will be significantly affected where the FCO advises against travel as that will affect the consumer’s peace of mind. This is particularly relevant where it also affects the travel insurance that customers have to allow them to deal with issues that might arise at the destination whilst on the holiday. They consider that this is in line with both consumer and industry expectation.

If the services operate then the customer has no right to a refund

Love Holidays and On The Beach take a very different view to ABTA. They say that legislation can’t be interpreted by a trade body, especially when the wording of the legislation does not contain any specific provisions on government travel advice. The counter argument pivots on one central point- the regulations never envisaged a situation like the one the Covid 19 brought about. Proponents argue that historically, the FCO would only advise against travel in extreme circumstances where there was a real danger for UK travellers going to that destination. More importantly however, they argue that FCO advice in and of itself does not entitle a traveller to claim a full refund under Part 3, regulation 12 of the regulations. They say that if the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangement Regulations 2018 intended to incorporate the advice of government bodies that impacted travel, this would have been drafted into the wording or clarified within the guidance notes to the legislation.

Both Love Holidays and On the Beach argue that where an airline is operating a flight to a destination and the accommodation is open and accepting guests, they are fulfilling their contractual obligations by providing the customer what they have paid for. If the client cannot travel for any reason, they will have to bear the costs of this as it is a matter of choice. They say the customer is able to travel but chooses not to.

So who decides which position is correct?

The likes of Simon Calder and Martin Lewis will continue to go on TV and give their opinions as to what the law says. The problem is that neither is a lawyer and ultimately, complex issues like this can only be determined by the courts.

Ultimately, this matter will not be resolved until it is brought before the courts. We expect that there will be a few claims in the County Court brought by litigants in person where typically the judge will side with the consumer. We expect that one of the bigger travel companies will either seek to move the claim to the High Court or appeal a County Court judgement in the High Court. The High Court will then address the issue on the specific wording of the legislation. The ruling could go either way!

Should I book a holiday?

Until the legal position has been clarified, all consumers are taking a risk if they choose not to travel for any reason if the services they have booked are operational on the dates of their travel. It is advisable to obtain insurance cover for this specific risk although the options for cover are becoming ever more limited and that which is available will be very expensive.

A number of airlines and hotels have recognised the risks consumers are being asked to take and are therefore offering flexible deals that will not provide an option to cancel but will offer the option of re-scheduling travel plans without any penalties up to 24 hours prior to departure. There are also other travel companies that are guaranteeing full refunds if any client is unable to travel as a result of changing FCO advice. You should however look into the company offering the guarantee to ensure that they have the financial standing to be able to deliver on their undertaking.

05/10/2020

30/09/2020

Coronavirus travel insurance: who will cover me?

Coronavirus travel insurance: who will cover me?More than two dozen travel insurers now offer some form of coronavirus cancellation cover, as travel corridor changes and rising case numbers make it more valuable than ever. But there’s a huge amount of difference between insurers in terms of what’s actually covered. Here, Which? breaks down those differences to help you understand which insurer will cover you for what and answer questions about claims, vouchers and travel corridors.

Will travel insurance cover me for COVID-19?

Dozens of insurers stopped selling travel insurance after the start of the pandemic, but since then, large numbers have returned to the market – many with some form of ‘COVID-19 cover’.

In terms of coronavirus, we can split them into three general groups:

Those that don’t cover COVID-19 Some insurance policies come with a ‘general exclusion’ against claims stemming from coronavirus. With these, if your claim is related to the pandemic, they won’t pay out.
Those that cover COVID-19 medical expenses, but nothing else These will pay out if you catch the virus abroad. They won’t cover you for anything else related to coronavirus.
Those that cover COVID-19 medical expenses and cancellation Broadly, this means that in certain circumstances you’ll be able to claim if coronavirus stops you from travelling.

To our knowledge, at least 25 insurers now fall into that third category, which is great news for anyone who wants more comprehensive post-lockdown travel cover. We list them all below. The problem is, there’s a wide range of what’s actually covered within that group.

With all of them, you’ll be covered if you need to cancel because you’ve caught coronavirus. But if someone else in your household gets COVID-19, or if you’re self-isolating without being infected, you might not be. The table below shows which insurers will cover you in six potential scenarios. It’s worth noting that these scenarios are not the only reasons you might need to make a coronavirus-related cancellation claim and that some of these insurers will cover other situations. Additionally, it may be that some of these insurers only offer COVID-19 cancellation cover with certain policies.
If your destination restricts its borders before you travel for reasons relating to the pandemic Nationwide
If the FCO changes its advice before you travel Nationwide
If your hotel closes while you are there Axa, Big Blue Cover, Insurefor, Jet2, Leisure Guard, MRL Insurance, Nationwide
If you’ve been told to self-isolate by the NHS, but haven’t been tested AllClear, Allianz Assistance, Asda, Axa, Co-op, JustTravelCover, LV, Nationwide, Trailfinders
If a family/household member is diagnosed with COVID-19, meaning you have to self-isolate AllClear, Allianz Assistance, Abta, Asda, Axa, Co-op, JustTravelCover, LV, Nationwide, Staysure, Trailfinders
If you are diagnosed with COVID-19 Abta, AllClear, Allianz Assistance, Alpha Travel Insurance, Asda, Axa, Big Blue Cover, Co-op, Dogtag, Flexicover, Get Going, Holidaysafe, Insurancewith, Insurefor, Jet2, JustTravelCover, Leisure Guard, LV, MRL Insurance, Nationwide, Postcard, Saga, Spectrum, Staysure, TopDog, Trailfinders

As you can see, only one insurer (Nationwide) covers you if the FCO changes its advice after you book, because of a development related to the pandemic. And Nationwide is also the only insurer that will pay out if your destination country restricts its borders.

Of all the policies we’ve found, Nationwide’s has the widest coronavirus cover. The downside is that it won’t work for a single-trip policy; you can only get Nationwide travel insurance if you open a bank account with the building society.

Can I get insured for every risk?

Now that more than two dozen insurers are offering coronavirus cancellation cover, it is theoretically possible for you to be insured against many of the things that might go wrong with post-lockdown travel – but not necessarily for everything. Most travel insurers will not cover you if the FCO changes its advice before you fly – as it has in the case of Portugal and others – or if the government orders another lockdown. It’s also still very rare to find cover for if the country you’re travelling to changes its border policy and doesn’t let you in.

You won’t find an insurer that will cover you simply if you change your mind about travelling – for example, if cases in your destination country are rising but the FCO has not warned against going there. And although medical expenses cover is more widely available, COVID-19 is still a threat and it’s still deadly, so you need to take every precaution to make sure you’re safe if you do go abroad.

22/09/2020

Why Covid-19 has created one of the best opportunities for personal travel assistants?

There is a misconceived notion that everything online is cheaper. That may be the case in some industries and it certainly was true of travel in the early 2000s. Today however, you can often get a better a deal offline than online. But that is a separate discussion. We want to talk about why online travel is going to go through an existentialist crisis following Covid-19 and why the personal travel agent will be the biggest benefactor of this. By the time you have read this article, you will understand why starting your own home-based travel business now could be one of the most profitable decisions of your life!

It’s a matter of consumer confidence.

It’s no secret that the travel sector was hit hard by Covid-19 and Online Travel Agents (OTAs) were not immune to this. The problem for the OTA was the high cost of operating that they had to continue funding, combined with a collapse in income. This royal storm resulted in the OTA cutting staff numbers to less than the size appropriate for a skeleton operation.
It’s almost certain that you know someone whose travel plans were disrupted by the pandemic. If
they booked with an OTA, you probably know that they are still waiting for a refund or have been refused one altogether. Or perhaps, they still haven’t been able to actually get in touch with anyone at the OTA they booked with.

Faceless conglomerates on distant shores.

What struck home with travellers is that dealing with faceless corporations and their outsourced customer service agents in the Philippines, India or somewhere else is great when things run smoothly but it is an entirely different story when things go wrong. When the pandemic hit, travellers were left feeling frustrated with the lack of communication, the inability to speak to anyone and the helplessness of not being able to do anything about it.
After 20 years of the runaway success of the OTA model, travellers began remembering with longing for the days they could just walk down the road to their local travel agent.

The next decade of travel will not be defined by price but by confidence

Herein lies the opportunity for you.

People will no longer be booking travel based on price alone. Whist it is a fallacy that booking travel online is cheaper than booking with small independent agents, this perception has persisted for the last 10 years. Now, travellers will be prepared to pay more to deal with a human being in their own country, preferably in their own locality if possible. They will be pleasantly surprised when they realise that the humble independent travel agent actually offers better deals than OTAs but more importantly, they will have peace of mind. They will rest easy in the knowledge that they have someone they can talk to for anything they need, and that person will be the same person every time they make contact!

Travellers will be looking for people like you.

Think about your network and how many of your friends, family and acquaintances travel each year. What if you could be earning an average of £350 for every one of those bookings. If you were to inform your network of friends, family and acquaintances that you had started a travel business pre- Covid, they would have supported you. After the horrors faced by customers of faceless travel giants that have been headline news for the last 6 months, today, your network will not just support you, they will beg you to become a travel agent just so that they can deal with someone they know that they can trust!

The travel bounce back.

Covid may have impacted travel as an industry but leisure travel is not just here to stay, it is here to grow. For many reasons people will never give up their holiday. In the ever-increasing madness of modern life, travelling to far off exotic places is one of the few indulgences that actually keeps people sane. Business travel may suffer for many years. Trade shows, conferences and exhibitions may have had their day. But, the beach holiday, the cruises and the city breaks will never die. The time has come for the independent travel agent to flourish.

Do you want to be part of the economic boom?

22/09/2020

22/09/2020

21/09/2020

https://blog.travelpartnergroup.com/book-a-discounted-hotel-room-months-in-advance-but-only-pay-for-it-when-you-travel/

Hotels operate a vast range of rates for the rooms in their hotels. They will have the standard rates, rates for the loyalty club members, corporate rates, leisure rates, advanced purchase rates and much more. Hotels even go as far as operating different rate for different nationalities. We have exp...

10/09/2020

Holding a confirmed flight reservation without paying

Airlines manage their flights, reservations, yields and many other aspects of the flights they operate on a GDS (Global Distribution System) which is sometimes also called a CRS (Central Reservations System). Travel Agents use the same GDS system to book flights and manage flight reservations for their customers.

There are 4 main GDS globally:

Amadeus
Galileo
Sabre
Worldspan

When you become a member of TPC, you will have access to all 4 of these which will particularly benefit those that have worked in travel before. We can also arrange training for you on any of the 4 main GDS platforms.

The history and evolution of the GDS

Those of us who are old enough to remember air travel in the 1970s will recall that travel agents had card imprinters (similar to the credit card imprinters that shops used at that time). They would place a gold coloured metal airline card (known as a plate) under a blank ticket and then swipe across. They would then fill in the flight details and pricing on the ticket by hand and then tear out various carbon copy coupons. They would phone the airline and tell the airline that they had issued a ticket, and they would give the airline the ticket number that was pre-printed on the ticket. The airline would load this information into the GDS. At the time of travel the check in clerk would match the details from the GDS to the ticket presented to them for travel. Every month, the travel agent would complete a BSP return and submit the audit coupons of every ticket to IATA so that they could be billed for all the tickets they had issued.

Of course for all this to work, the travel agents had to first call the airline and make the reservation. They would not be liable to pay for the reservation until the ticket was issued and the ticket number was stored with the reservation or, as it is known in the industry, the Passenger Name Record (PNR). The reservation could not be cancelled by the airline, because the travel agent would need time to issue the ticket. So the airline would set a ticketing time limit (TTL). If the ticket was not issued within the time limit, the airline would then cancel the PNR.

Things had to change!

This very long and convoluted process had to change and in the mid 1980s as the price of computers reduced, travel agents gained their own access to the GDS. Using dial up modems connected to the telephone line, travel agents were perhaps one of the first industries in the world to make the technological leap globally connected computer networks!

Once connected to the GDS, the travel agent would follow the same process as they did in the old days. They would first make the reservation and create the PNR. They would then use their ticket printer to issue the ticket. The time in between would be the period prior to the TTL.

That process that applied in the 1970s remains the same today. Travel agents first make a reservation in the GDS. The GDS will then set a TTL (usually 72 hours) within which tickets must be issued or the PNR will be auto cancelled.

Holding tickets for longer than 72 hours

Some contracted Seat Only (SO) and IT fares do not have to be issued until 30 days prior to the flight. During this time, the fare quoted at the time the booking was made remains valid but no cancellation charges apply if the ticket is cancelled.

For example, I make a booking using an IT fare to Johannesburg travelling in 10 months time. The fare is £500. In 9 months time, I have to issue the ticket. At that point the cheapest fare available on the same flight is now £1,100. I would still only pay £500. If I decide that I no longer want to travel, I just cancel the PNR and don’t loose ANY money.

The benefits of holding tickets

The price could go down further or there could be a sale within the next 9 months that I could take advantage of.

Example: I book in July for travel next May. In January most airlines have sales. In the same, the price for my flight goes down to £300. I simply cancel my previous booking and re-book at the lower fare. If we are a family of 4, I save £800

I am unsure about my travel plans

I am thinking of travelling to South Africa but have also through about Kenya. I don’t want to risk the air fares going up, so I book both destinations now and cancel the one that I don’t need later without any penalties.

I want to wait for other people or other items to confirm

I am waiting for my partner to confirm they can get time off work, or I am waiting to see if I can get tickets to the event we are going for. There are so many contingencies involved when we travel and being able to hold a flight reservation and guarantee the price removes one of the stresses involved!

Providing a service that the internet wont

If you are joining the club to sell travel then the ability to hold tickets is something which sets you apart from the internet. You are able to offer a service that websites either cant or will charge a premium for. This is a USP that you can promote on social media and amongst your networks. Many travel agents still sell a lot of tickets simply because they offer the flexibility to hold confirmed reservations without having to pay for the ticket.